Tarzia vows to continue trash container inquiry

Tarzia vows to dig deep in trash inquiry; other city officials say it's a 'waste of time'

Magdalene Perez, Staff Writer

Published 9:38 pm, Saturday, October 2, 2010

STAMFORD -- Board of Finance Chairman Joe Tarzia has vowed to continue investigating a city practice of loaning municipal Dumpsters to residents, despite the Pavia administration's assertion the matter has been resolved.

City Director of Administration Fred Flynn said this week the city was satisfied with the conclusion of an investigation of Operations Director Ernie Orgera's role in securing free Dumpster disposal services for his executive assistant, Margarita Arenas, which Flynn said found no wrongdoing. In response to the investigation, Mayor Michael Pavia last week issued a new written policy on trash container use, saying the solid waste department's practice of providing Dumpsters to the public had been ongoing but without formal conditions or guidelines.

Despite the conclusions, Tarzia has continued to pursue the matter, questioning city employees at a Board of Finance Operations Committee meeting Tuesday about the city's past practices and specifically how the request to Arenas' address unfolded. Tarzia is currently subject to hearings in an ethics complaint in which Orgera has confirmed certain allegations against him. The complaint is among four ethics and labor charges filed against Tarzia in recent months.

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Tarzia said the city's investigation "whitewashed" the issue, and that he does not trust a report written by Solid Waste Supervisor Dan Colleluori, which concluded his department has provided more than 35 city Dumpsters to residents in the last two years.

"Not for one minute do I believe the investigation they conducted. That was a complete cover up," Tarzia said Thursday. "They're banking on this thing being shoved under the rug."

Tarzia, who is chairman of the Finance Board's two-member Operations Committee, points instead to a conflicting account offered by Citizens Services Supervisor Frank Fedeli, who said the city stopped loaning trash containers to residents and neighborhood groups years ago. However, in a written response to an inquiry from Tarzia last month, Pavia asserted the administration found Fedeli's statements characterizing the Dumpster program as having been curtailed "was not the case."

Tarzia questioned both Colleluori and Fedeli at the meeting Tuesday. Orgera did not attend.

Tarzia said he will continue to look into the issue despite an ongoing ethics board investigation into Orgera and Arenas' conduct, which began after city Rep. Sal Gabriele, R-16, filed a complaint against them in August. Gabriele and Orgera have confirmed the existence of the complaint, although the document, currently confidential under ethics board rules, has not been disclosed.

Tarzia said he does not have faith the ethics board will adequately investigate Gabriele's complaint. Asked whether he believed it was proper to investigate the issue given the ethics board's inquiry, Tarzia said he won't let ongoing ethics complaints get in the way of pursuing the matter further.

"They're not going to control my responsibility as an elected official," Tarzia said. "When the Dumpster issue came out, I said that I would conduct my own investigation. I'm not a politician that says one thing and does something else."

An assistant for the mayor referred questions to Flynn, who said he found Tarzia's inquiry a waste of the Board of Finance's time.

"In this environment with important issues facing the city, the board should be focusing on more important matters," Flynn said. "I think it's much ado about nothing and it reeks of another witch hunt."

The board's other operations committee member, Democrat Tim Abbazia, said the purpose of the Dumpster discussion Tuesday was not clear, and that he had not been aware there was an ongoing ethics complaint against Orgera.

"It was a whole lot of discussion without a whole lot of substance," Abbazia said.

The ethics board recently found probable cause in two complaints against Tarzia, meaning the cases will soon be subject to public hearings. The first complaint, filed by Human Resources Generalist Tania Barnes in April, alleges Tarzia asked Barnes, through two officials, Orgera and Parks Superintendent Mickey Docimo, to rescind a five-day unpaid suspension imposed on a municipal equipment operator, Tony Vaccaro.

The second complaint, filed by City Fleet Manager Mike Scacco against Tarzia, Kolenberg and Gabriele in May, alleges the three officials led a "campaign of harassment and retaliation" against Scacco after he attempted to discipline city equipment mechanic James Fasoli, whom Scacco claimed is Tarzia's friend and political ally.

Tarzia and Kolenberg have said the complaints are baseless and a reaction to their attempts to investigate waste and mismanagement in the city.

Orgera, interviewed following the board's finding of cause in the Barnes complaint in late August, said he did talk to Barnes on Tarzia's behalf, and that he was interviewed about the matter by the board's investigating panel. Docimo, on the other hand, said he was never involved and had not been interviewed by the ethics board.

Reached Friday, Orgera said he can't comment on an ongoing investigation.

The first hearing in the Barnes complaint is scheduled to take place Oct. 19. A hearing date for the Scacco complaint has not yet been set.

Staff Writer Magdalene Perez can be reached at magdalene.perez@scni.com 203-964-2240.